Posts made by tloger

It seems from the hi res photos that the quality of the pieces are better compared to AA50.  They seem like the quality from AAE, AAP, AAR and such.  Would that be a fair assumption?

Kesselring is a good choice.  His use of the Italian geography was brilliant in setting up successive defensive lines that nearly bled the Allies out.  The Allied engineering corp under Truscott however found a chink in the Ceaser Line at Monte Artemisio that led to the race for Rome and got the VI Corp out of Anzio.  The Allies finally broke out of Cassino at this time and had Kesselrings armies on retreat.  Clark could have helped Alexander, Juin, and Leese by ordering Truscott to encircle Vietinghoff and Mackensen at the onset of breaking through at Mt. Artemisio, but he foolishly went on his own plan to take Rome before Alexander could get there, allowing Kesselring’s armies to escape up into northern Italy.  That was foolish by Clark, it allowed Kesselring to reform more defensive lines North of Rome stagnating and delaying any movement by the Allies after that.  Rome was only a symbolic target it didn’t hold any strategic value.  Allowing a Field Marshal of Kesselring’s caliber to regroup was yet another error causing us more hardships in the future.  The Italian theater I guess  you could say has one of the most overrated (Clark) and most underrated (Kesselring) generals of the war.

As far as Cincy with the Gators that is tough to tell.  Cincy has the best “pair” of QB’s in the country.  I am not sure if they can get it going against Florida.  Pitt has a very good D and they really struggled with them early in that game, but Florida is one of the tops in the country.  But on the same token they did get pretty exposed by Bama (yet again Bama has a top national defense as well.)  All I know is I Tebow is going to fight in that game tooth and nail, but I am still rooting for the little guy.  I hope Cincy stays competitive.

Yeah I think the Hawks match up well with GT.  In the past we have the defended option well.  But we haven’t defended a triple option.  I think with over a month to prepare we should be ready.  We really needed Texas to beat Neb to get in, gotta say i was sweating bullets over that game.

I got my fingers crossed that my Hawkeyes are playing in the warm sun down in Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl.  I keep hearing a Boise State vs. Iowa matchup could be in the mix.

German AC in the Med sounds like an interesting idea.  In my group we sometimes play with a British Factory in Egypt with a production value of 2 to spice up the game.  I feel it better represents the British 8th in the Middle East and Egypt. A German AC in the Med would make for some cool action.

I play with a carrier for Britain sometimes.  I posted a strat sometime ago using the Canadian factory for placement and using the initial Brit fighters for seaborn transport defense.  The downside is those fighters don’t go to Russia, but the upside is a formidable defense against Germany.  Germany is usual pretty frugal about risking fighters outside of turn one, due to using them to fend off western front landings and allied bomber defense.  Germany can’t really replace its fighters due to most of its income floating towards a TP (tank push) of some sort against Russia.

Lot of hawkeyes in this forum, hopefully we get the Fiesta Bowl, I have my fingers crossed.

“You said the blind man had a ‘minkee’?”  “Yes, a chimpanzeeminkee” (Return of the Pink Panther)

I enjoyed it.  The actor that plays Landa did a fantastic job.  You really need to dig to find an actor that fluent in 4 different languages, and QT found the right guy.

I am still surprised that Japan attacking Russia got some votes.  You have to realize the Russians would not have to expend that much to repel a Japanese offenseive, the Chinese would recognize this and would be on a full out offensive to recapture lands lost and avenge Nanking.

lol, go hawks gamerman, I knew Matt Melloy while I was there, he is a Mt. Pleasant native.  BigTen Champs 09, you can quote me on that.

let me refrase that, “Tailgating”

I can hardly contain myself.  I was a manager for Iowa Football for 4yrs while I was in college, I bleed black and gold.  Last season was the first season in four years that I was not on the sideline for the saturdays.  But I have to say I enjoyed watching it as a spectator more then being staff person, because I finally got to endulge in the art of stailgating.  I am going to make a few pilgrimmages back to Iowa City this season again, Go Hawkeyes!

Thats awesome!  Glad I could help.  I definitely agree, having an AC in the Atlantic really brings a new dimension to the game, instead of having 20 DD scattered throughout the board.  That Canadian IC is really useful in the early stages of an AAE game.

For my Atlantic moves, I engaged all GB ships except the DD and Tranny off of Canada.  I used a combo of all my subs and aircraft including the bomber.  I used my Cruiser for bombardment and amphib for baltic states.  I moved two men from Germany to France, and one man and one artillery from Italy to France.

Thank you guys for your imput.  Its not a sure win strat, but from what I have played if the dice fall your way its a quick hit to Russia if the Russian player buffers belo and eastern ukraine with thin forces.  Italy can open the door and have Germany tank blitz with 7 armor and some air power before Russia can counter attack.

PS: I paragraphed my entry upon Commander Jenn’s request :) Good Gaming

Hi guys been away from the game for much of the summer being occupied with work and my studies.  I recently have gotten the game back out and have been strating for the Axis.  For an Axis strat lately I have been leaning towards a combined German and Italian offensive.  With Italy I ignore Africa for the most part and I only position my units jointly with German units for a combined defense in either Morocco or Lybia.  With Germany I also ignore Egypt, and I use my sz 13 tranny to take a man and tank to Ukraine ( I use open Dardenelles option).  I move all my tanks into position to Ukraine with 2 men and art.  The mass offensive power stationed leaves Russia with no choice to set up a defensive front in the Caucasus and eastern Ukraine.  My Italian move consists of my balkan tank pushing into Ukraine and my tranny and fleet dropping off an additional tank, man, and i send my fighter to Ukraine as well.  Other units are moved to France.  Now the Russian player obviously sense a Caucasus first strat and moves units accordingly.  What usually develops is what I call the  “Italian Screen” maneuver.  Depending on how strong his units are in Eastern Ukraine (Usually 3-5 men) and Caucasus (Usually bulk of defense is positioned there, sensing a push for the IC) the Italian force can engage EU and open a straight shot for Germany to Russia at the top of the next turn. Or if the defense is balanced in both Russian territories, the Italian force holds, Germany attempts to take Caucasus, if taken the Italian force fills the gap left after the battle and Caucasus is taken.  My G1 purchase ranges from 6 armor or 5 men 3 armor, or 7 men 1 fighter.  I usually take Baltic and E Poland with meager forces, if they are successful I can still do a northerly swing back to Baltic states if I deem Caucasus out of reach ( this is especially effective with a 6 armor purchase, because you can redirect the board with a 10 armor plus swing the Russian player may not be expecting.)  Anyways I was just curious what other players do for a Russian defense with a combined Italian and German push.  In my play group the “Italian Screen” or Italian gap filling method proves to be very effective and hard to defend.  I am not saying that this Axis strat is fool proof or unstoppable play( obviously dice still play a roll in the game), but I was just curious what some of you more experience players would do to counter this.  For me I can’t seem to get my other Allied units in European theater in time to curtail it, especially if Japan opened strong, the US player usually just builds bombers for Europe and the rest is Pacific.  SBR’ing Germany is somewhat effective but I have found it sometimes does not create enough time.  It generally all depends on the Russian play.  German and Italian units from rounds 1-3 are enough to break through in rounds 4 or 5. Strong GB in Africa usually does not have enough time to make a difference after taking out the initial Axis forces and usually is tied up with Japan sweeping into Persia.  Your comments are most appreciated, Thank you and good gaming!

During operation HUSKY, German officers made vast attempts to mislead Italian soldiers about the treatment of POW’s in US camps.  Efforts in this area were increased as the operaton went on in order to convince the Italians that fighting to the death would be a better road to take then surrendering after hoards of Italian units began surrendering en masse.  During one interrogation of an Italian officer, the captive inquired, " So when are you gunna start?"  The quizical interrogators replied, “Start with what?”  The captured officer then returned to say, “Cutting off our balls.”    After a brief moment of laughter the US interrogators assured him that they were not here to castrate him but only question him.  With tears in his eyes he graciously thanked them for their clemency.  To most US camp interrogators they felt more like saviors then their captors. (Atkinson “Day of Battle”)

During a meeting between de Gaulle and Stalin the talks had stalled over the topic of which government to recognize in Poland.  In a fit Stalin remarked he could not deal with a country who ran from an enemy to meet defeat.  De Gaulle quipped under his breath, “In your case you just have much more room to run.”

Allied window tint-  In an attempted to charter Roosevelt in secrecy from the airport to his Moroccan hotel in the week before the Casablanca meeting.  Allied soldiers slung mud onto the windshields of his escort car to conceal sight into the vehicle.  Perplexed Arabs and French locals were intrigued by this odd juvenile behavior in witnessing grown men fling mud onto the car like children.